McDonald's may be a globally recognized brand, but ordering the identical meal on contrary sides of the Atlantic can awareness akin a entirely distinct experience.
We tried akin McDonald's meals in New York City and London — including spicy chicken sandwiches, fries, an apple pie, and a fruity beverage — to see whether there were differences in sensation and value between the two.
The meals ended up being nearly the identical price: $15.18 excluding tax in New York, compared to £11.38 ($15.18) including tax in London.
Our New York-based reporter, Erin McDowell, established that the spicy poultry sandwich had a additional distinctly Southern sensation profile, from the spicy mayo to the thick buttered bun and crunchy pickle slices.
Our London-based reporter, Roya Shahidi, idea the UK's type of the spicy poultry could have done alongside several crunchy pickles akin in the US, but the poultry was moist and crispy.
We compared part sizes, value, and, of course, sensation to see how all meal compared in the US and the UK.
Our New York-based newsman visited her local McDonald's in Brooklyn.
The eatery was promotion the chain's new poultry tenders on its modern-looking exterior.
This is one of approximately 13,600 McDonald's locations in the US, according to the company. That's far additional than its figure of restaurants in the UK, anywhere it has about 1,500 locations.
During our visits, the New York location additionally felt additional contemporary and pared back, during the London eatery featured brighter colors and additional playful scheme details.
The eatery was beautiful quiescent for the midday lunch rush.
Inside, the eatery had self-order kiosks, a oppose for pickup orders, and plentifulness of seating for customers dining in or taking food to go.
Erin ordered a spicy poultry sandwich meal alongside a dessert. She additionally tried the new strawberry watermelon refresher.
The meal came in McDonald's signature brown document bag and included a spicy poultry sandwich, average fries, an apple pie, and a medium-sized fruity pink drink.
It disbursal $15.18, excluding tax.
The strawberry watermelon refresher is made alongside strawberry and watermelon flavoring, lemonade, and ice.
It was additionally topped alongside pieces of freeze-dried strawberry. Erin enjoyed the balance of saccharine watermelon, tart strawberry flavoring, and lemonade, but the dried create pieces made the beverage clumsy to sip — she kept getting chunks in her mouth.
Still, it was a refreshing, summery beverage she'd command again, ideally without the strawberry topping.
Next up was the spicy McCrispy poultry sandwich.
The sandwich is one of McDonald's biggest attempts to vie in the fast-food poultry wars.
First launched nationwide in February 2021, the sandwich has rotate into a staple on McDonald's list and can equal vie alongside fast-food classics akin Chick-fil-A's celebrated poultry sandwich.
It featured a thick, crunchy fried poultry filet topped alongside spicy mayo and pickles on a gentle murphy roll.
It looked far additional significant than the additional essential poultry sandwiches frequently connected alongside McDonald's, akin the McChicken.
Erin was additionally impressed by the size of the poultry filet, which was concerning the identical size as her palm.
The poultry filet was moist, during the crispy breading held its own, notwithstanding the generous serving of condiment slathered on the bun.
It stayed crispy below the toppings and delivered a savory, black-peppery sensation that gave all nip a small additional kick, on top of the creamy, spicy condiment that remaining a minor lingering heat.
No McDonald's meal is complete without fries.
The fries were thin, salty, and hot — the acquainted traditional that remains among the chain's most accordant list items. The US command came alongside a generously filled carton that was ample adequate to share, although Erin had no difficulty operating her way through most of it.
The fries were delicious dipped in ranch — an American staple.
The tangy, creamy dipping condiment gave the salty fries an additional punch of sensation and made for an particularly satisfying final bite.
Erin additionally tried one of McDonald's baked desserts.
The hand pie had a flaky, golden-brown exterior and came in a sleek purple sleeve. It disbursal $1.99, excluding tax.
The apple pie's aureate crust was correctly crispy, alongside a ray crunch that held up fine about the heated filling.
Inside, the gentle apples were saccharine and caramelized, giving the dessert a cozy, nearly homemade sensation that made it a satisfying end to the meal.
Erin did think the pie could have been a bit small doughy and a bit additional flaky to improved resemble a genuine apple pie.
Our London-based newsman visited her local McDonald's in Islington.
This McDonald's had many of emoji faces on its windows to advertise McHappy Day, a philanthropy fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House UK on September 26.
It was the archetypal day of the World Menu Heist in the UK and Ireland.
Roya went to McDonald's on September 22, which was the archetypal day of the World Menu Heist.
These are famous McDonald's items from about the world, made into limited-edition items in the UK and Ireland.
At lunchtime, the eatery was occupied at the self-service kiosks, but there were plentifulness of seats available.
Inside, you can command at the oppose or at the self-service kiosks. A lot of group choice up their orders following placing them on the McDonald's app.
Roya ordered a average Spicy McCrispy meal, which came alongside fries and a drink. She tried the Guava Sprite Zero from the World Heist Menu.
Roya opted for the "eat in" option, so the meal came on a tray. Adding a document bag at this McDonald's would have disbursal an additional 13 cents.
The meal disbursal £11.38 ($15.18) including tax.
The Guava Sprite Zero from McDonald's India is Sprite Zero alongside guava-flavored syrup and ice.
The drinks we ordered weren't a straightforward match: Erin ordered McDonald's strawberry watermelon refresher in New York, which was not on the UK list whenever we checked, during Roya tried the UK-only guava Sprite Zero.
This beverage was part of the World Heist Menu. Roya established it refreshing and liked the additional tang that the guava-flavored syrup added to the Sprite.
There were additionally several differences in the part sizes and sugar satisfied between our two drinks.
A average soda at McDonald's is much bigger in the US, anywhere it holds 21 fluid ounces, compared alongside 13.5 fluid ounces in the UK.
McDonald's UK motionless sells several sugary drinks, but its soft-drink list leans additional heavily on zero-sugar options, including Sprite Zero. That reflects the UK's Soft Drinks Industry Levy, introduced in 2018 to advance manufacturers to cut sugar from beverages; drinks alongside additional than 5 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters are topic to the tax.
The Spicy McCrispy poultry burger was up next.
In the US, the McCrispy is marketed as a sandwich, whereas in the UK, it's additional commonly referred to as a burger.
The McCrispy was launched in 2022 following the discontinuation of the extremely famous Chicken Legend. The spicy version launched this year.
It consisted of a crispy poultry chest filet, shredded iceberg lettuce, and spicy mayo.
Roya idea the poultry filet was significant — much bigger than the beef burgers typically sold at McDonald's.
Different from the US murphy roll, the bread is a sourdough-style bun topped alongside sesame seeds.
McDonald's varies its recipes and menus across countries to comply alongside local regulations and cater to client tastes. For example, Canadian McDonald's has a maple-and-cheddar poultry burger, another item that featured on the World Heist Menu.
The poultry was juicy and had a thick tier of spicy batter, which stayed crispy — although the burger felt fairly dry overall.
The filet itself was moist, alongside a crispy, crunchy batter that Roya idea had a satisfying boot of heat. This was distinct from the US version, which has a lighter, less-crunchy breading without any warmth — all the spicy sensation comes from the sauce.
She idea there could have been additional spicy mayo and pickles, akin in the US, to add a bit additional texture. The lettuce, during adding a nice freshness, didn't do much for the dryness.
The McDonald's fries were hot but could have been crispier.
While the London-based newsman continually enjoys McDonald's fries, she idea they could have been crispier this period — they were a small floppy.
Roya, who prefers her food saltier, added a sodium chloride sachet to the fries. Nonetheless, they came out hot and were a satisfying companion to the burger.
McDonald's UK says it has reduced the fat, salt, sugar, and calories in its list since 2020, which may contribute to the milder sensation compared alongside the US fries.
American McDonald's fries additionally have beef flavoring added to them to replicate the old-school sensation of frying in beef tallow.
Roya used the ketchup dispenser in the eatery for her dip.
Ketchup and barbecue condiment are normally accessible from dispensers in most McDonald's in the UK. Roya opted for ketchup, which added a lip-smacking tang to the fries.
Ranch is not as famous or well-known in the UK, but McDonald's UK did have it as a limited-edition dip this summer.
With no lattice crust, the apple pie in the UK looks and tastes distinct from that in the US.
The apple pie in this London McDonald's expenses £2.29 ($3.05), including tax.
Roya's UK apple pie was fried and sealed akin a hand pie, dissimilar the lattice-topped baked pie sold in the US. The UK type closely resembled how McDonald's in the US used to create its apple pies before it switched to a baked, not fried, type in 1992.
The US type got another update in 2018, whenever the latticed crust was introduced, and the sequence switched to a sliced apple filling alongside cinnamon.
Overall, our experiences were additional distinct than we expected.
From the scheme of the eatery to the genuine menu, there were several key differences between the two locations. Even akin items differed in conditions of ingredients and size.
We were amazed that our meals were nearly the identical price, and the poultry sandwiches were beautiful akin in part size. However, the sodas were extremely distinct in size, alongside the US average beverage being much larger, and the UK apple pie looked additional akin a fried strudel than a lattice pie.
The poultry sandwich in the US additionally had additional condiment and a saltier flavor, which Roya idea the UK type lacked.
From the eatery scheme to the final nip of pie, our cross-Atlantic McDonald's sensation test proved that "the same" command can average item extremely distinct depending on anywhere you are.
